Landing pages are often overlooked – sometimes they don’t seem as important as other marketing efforts. But as online marketing continues to grow, so does the importance of effective and engaging landing pages. To ensure your lofty Internet marketing plans go, well, according to plan, make sure you allow time to focus on your landing pages. The steps to landing page optimization are pretty simple, but it will be up to you to put in the hours and energy it will take to make it great: The Beginnings of an Effective Landing Page
- Decide on a Target Audience – Make sure each individual landing page appeals to a specific audience, ensuring you’re clear about who you’re targeting.
- Set a Specific Goal – Each landing page should have a distinct goal. Every component of the page should help you accomplish that goal.
- Decide on a Desired Action for Visitors – Know exactly what you want visitors to do on your landing page. Your page should be designed to cater to this desired action.
The Basics: Page Layout and Optimization
- Keep Crucial Material Above the Fold – Don’t make visitors scroll to see your message. Without having to scroll, users should be able to quickly understand what the landing page is about, and should be shown a distinct call to action.
- Keep it Simple – Keep information clean and concise. Give visitors the simplest, most important information with the least amount of distraction. Avoid extra navigational elements and popups, while including white space to force visitor attention to your main info.
- Keep it Engaging – Make your headline obvious, bold, and concise. It should stand out and give visitors immediate understanding of your page’s purpose.
- Keep it Consistent – Carefully review your page after creating it. Be ruthless about eliminating components that don’t directly help achieve the goal of the page.
- Create Some Trust – Because visitors are faced with many landing pages, make your page stand out by including legitimate testimonials, endorsements, or featured stories. Also consider including a privacy policy on your page.
- Add a Powerful Call to Action – Include a direct, concise and compelling call to action. Make it stand out from the rest of the info on your page. Your page’s call to action should complete the following sentence for the visitor: “I want to…”
By following these steps, you’ll be one step closer to creating a killer landing page that engages visitors and keeps them coming back for more. Ideas adapted from Association of Strategic Marketing’s, “A Guide to Landing Page Optimization.” Photo Credit
